Various types of animal confinement or restraining stalls or pens have been known for a long time. These known stalls all make use of numerous bars or tubes in order to restrain the animal. Examples of such known stalls can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,253,494, 2,714,367, 4,350,117, 4,590,886, 4,649,864, 4,470,372 and 4,444,150.
While such known stalls may be sufficient to confine animals when permanently erected on a farm or the like, they are not easily transportable for temporary use or for use such as at an animal show. For example, show horses exhibited at a crowded display hall are provided by the show organizers with only a limited amount of space to be stalled. Within this limited amount of space, which often times is a dusty or muddy dirt floor pen, the animals are frequently tied in such a position that their back end is in or near an aisle which carries a stream of pedestrian traffic. This creates a danger in that a large animal may kick and cause injury to a pedestrian. Furthermore, because each animal presented at a show needs some sort of final washing, grooming, etc., the limited amount of space hinders the owner from cleaning the animal.
While some portable stalls are known, such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,590,886 and 4,599,972 mentioned above, these stalls are not suitable for animal show use. Such known stalls while technically being "portable", may still weigh hundreds of pounds, thus in practicality severely limiting their portability. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,972 would be extremely heavy and impractical to quickly set up and tear down for use at an animal show. Furthermore, the multiple number of components forming the multiple stalls do not allow a groomer access to the animal in order to prepare the animal for display. Similarly with the single portable stall described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,886, the extensive side frames restrict the groomer's access to the animal. The horse stall can also be easily tipped by a large animal as there is no bottom support provided.
Still further, it is a disadvantage of both U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,590,886 and 4,599,972, that the animal's feet are still exposed to an underlying dusty or muddy dirt surface.
There is therefore needed an animal grooming stall which is lightweight, portable and provides substantial access to allow the animal to be washed, groomed, etc. The grooming stall should require only minimal effort to construct and yet be sufficiently sturdy so as to prevent the animal from tipping the stall or kicking and injuring a bystander.